Ten years ago, Facebook was just beginning to pick up momentum, and had about 20 million users. Compare that to the current statistic of 2 billion active users, and you can really grasp how Social Media has only gotten more powerful over the last decade.

So, what's the difference between all of the different social media platforms? YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat are all highly visual platforms, with pictures and/or video being the central focus. Twitter features condensed posts with mostly written content, and you can generally find a balanced combination of photos, video and written content on Facebook. LinkedIn focuses on business networking and hi-lighting individual's work skills and experience.

​So where should your advertising dollars be going? What your product or service is will make a big difference on where to find the right audience. If you have a highly visual product, try testing out a highly visual platform. Demographics such as location, age, and gender are commonly collected upon registration, and most social media websites are skilled at collecting general data from its users, which in turn can help you target your audience more effectively.

Though many social media platforms now offer advertising today, Facebook has extremely advanced ad targeting capabilities that advertisers can leverage to find their ideal audience, right down to income level, interests and purchase behaviors. The only downside to this is that you are often advertising to cold traffic, and a proper followup strategy along with re-targeting must be implemented to see the best results.

With these advantages, as well as extremely cheap costs to reach thousands over other more traditional marketing methods (such as newspaper and TV ads) there is no doubt that social media advertising is on a skyward trajectory!

If you don't know what a Google My Business listing is, then you should consider calling us... ASAP! If you DO know what it is, but don't have one for YOUR business, then you should follow the instructions above! All joking aside, (but really, I wasn't joking and you really SHOULD call us...) GMB has come out with some really fantastic new features that are really useful for any business! We've gotten a lot of questions from our clients on what these features do and so we have created a short summary for those of you who are looking to learn more.

Posting on GMBYou can now create a post that will show up on your Google My Business Listing. You can choose to add a picture and connect it to an event, or you can link to another page. Button title options include:

Learn More

Reserve

Sign Up

Buy

Get Offer

Still curious on the details? Jump over to our Youtube Channel and watch our latest video to see how this works!

Q&A FeaturesNow answer and respond and compile answers to common questions with Google's Q&A features!

Monthly ReportingGoogle has updated to look of its monthly reporting summaries. If you didn't already know, GMB mails out a monthly report of statistics on how your listing is preforming. This allows you to take a look at how many views and clicks your listing is getting!

As a marketing company, we are truly excited about all of these new Google My Business features. If you want to learn even more on how these features can positively effect your business, give us a call!

You might have a beautiful website, but what if it isn't doing much good for your business? This is a problem I constantly observe across a variety of websites built by business owners. To make things simple, I've listed three of the main components to a website that should be non-negotiable.

1. Traffic GeneratorWhat good is a website anyways if it has little to no traffic? Not much good at all! This is why having a way to drive traffic is number one on this list. Having a website that nobody sees does about as much good as having a Lambo sitting in your garage. Three top traffic sources that are reliable when done right, are Google, Facebook, and well written Blogs.

2. Call To ActionSo, let's say you have the traffic down. People are absolutely visiting your website, according to the data. However, your phone isn't ringing, and your products still aren't selling. The issue could be that your Call to Action is too vague, or even in some cases nonexistent! Make SURE that your call to action, weather it be a BUY NOW button, or a place for them to sign up for something, is highly visible and shown repeatedly and consistantly throughout the website.

3. Re-targetingOne of the most commonly lacking items on a website, is a way to re-target visitors. Re-targeting is essential since not everyone who visits your site will be ready to take action at first. It may take them a few days to think about it, or maybe they need a few months to get some things in place before they will be ready to act. Facebook makes re-targeting a breeze with the Facebook pixel, and collecting email addresses allows you to gently remind your visitors of new updates or sales. However, when building a list, having a valuable incentive to "opt in" will be key.

Putting these three components together within your site will make all the difference in any business. Happy marketing!​